San Diego Reader

• Bar/Club | Pacific Beach

SD Tap Room

• 1269 Garnet Avenue, San Diego, CA 92109 | Directions
• 858-274-1010 | Website

Most craft-beer spots have a built-in culture. Newbies walk in, order up, and acclimate to the flow of the bar. But SD Tap Room is wonderfully inviting, devoid of unwritten rules and the judgmental glares of self-important regulars. That shit don’t fly in P.B…but alcohol sure as hell does. There’s a full bar here, but local craft beer is this establishment’s hooch of choice. What’s more refreshing than watching the Padres or Chargers on the plasmas in what is one of SD’s sportiest craft-beer spots? Fans of variety can choose their own beer flight at $2.50 per six-ounce sample, and fans of beers that aren’t on the tap or the bottle list can go online, request a beer, and set up an alert to find out whether and when it gets added to the inventory. Cask nights and LAB (local art and beer) events up the craft-beer ante, while Taco Tuesdays complete the Garnet experience.

— Brandon Hernández